"If diet is wrong medication is of no use, if diet is correct medication is of no need." Ayurvedic Proverb
The amount of information Western science has compiled on the human body is enormous. At the beginning of the 19th century, no one expected to live longer than 40 years. So I am grateful to all the scientists and doctors and engineers who have done the work so that we can live longer and more fruitful lives.
If one has a health problem, the Western (allopathic) doctors will try to fix it. They'll use their instruments to measure the problem, find out where it is, and use their pills, shots, scalpels and machines to make it go away. When I was 19 months old, I was hospitalized for dysentery, an inflammation and infection of the intestines caused by a bacterial or parasitic infection. Obviously, they fixed it because I was released and I'm still alive. But did they?
I have no more symptoms of dysentery 70 years later. But I have a body that built itself on that infection and on the emotional scars of experiencing abandonment in the hospital by my parents who weren’t allowed to stay with me. Plus, I was indoctrinated into our Western medical system. I am seeing that I still have a mindset that was instilled in me from that time and a lifetime of indoctrination.
I want to change all that.
Today, in my 70s, I have a variety of ailments that are typical of people in the United States. I have atrial fibrillation which means my heart beats arrhythmically. My father died from heart problems. So did my mother and my grandparents. My cousin died from esophageal cancer that came from gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). I also have GERD. Many people I know are getting steroid shots for the type of back pain I get. I also have a histamine intolerance, fibroids, thinning hair, and debilitating muscle cramps.
I want to prove to myself that my body can relieve itself of all these ailments. All of them. Do I want to take the Western medical route which tries to bypass the natural process? No. Instead, I am working at the physical, emotional, mental, and energetic level to detox my body.
The Mental – Energetic Level
First, I need to change my mindset in two places. I have to remember to use the Western diagnosis as a symptom and to reprogram my brain to focus on the root cause. For all my ailments, the root cause is likely the parasites, toxins, viruses, plastic, radiation, toxic heavy metals, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and pharmaceuticals that have accumulated in my body over decades. The key will be to detox my body of all these.
The second mindset change is that I have to remind myself that rebuilding the body takes time. This is not going to solve itself overnight. Cells live and die with a turnover rate. According to Scientific American, about 1 percent of all our cells, or 330 billion cells, are replaced daily. In 80 to 100 days, 30 trillion will have replenished. In effect, I have to build a new me.
I have to overcome my cardiologist’s belief that my heart can’t go back into sinus rhythm. I have to be like Terry McBride who was told he would never get out of his wheelchair and never get rid of the colostomy bag attached to him. Because when I met Terry, who was talking about his book The Hell I Can’t, he was standing up, dancing, touching his toes, and free of his physical problems.
There's something magical about Reiki. I had a healing treatment focused on my heart since my arrythmia is not serving me. I set an intention for the healing. When asked to visualize the arrhythmia, I got in touch with an image of a very tired and weak old man. I imagined angels slowly scooping up that tired old man out of my body and transmuting my heart energy into a more vibrant space by bathing it with light.
The Emotional – Energetic level
I've had other Reiki treatments that work on the emotional level, almost more like hypnosis. In those sessions, I go back in time to painful, trauma-inducing moments in my life and heal them. Like being alone in the hospital not understanding why my parents weren't protecting me.
Writing about the things that bother me helps as well. Talking about my feelings. Plus getting out of myself and helping others.
The Physical-Energetic Level
And finally, there is the actual physical level. I'm finding Qi Gong another magical daily practice that keeps me active, focuses my mind, moves joints I wouldn’t move otherwise, and activates my energetic system. I love a 20-minute routine by Don Fiore for seniors.
But it’s the food that counts. If viruses and/or parasites are living on all the toxins in my body—the heavy metals, funguses, pesticides, herbicides, pharmaceuticals, and plastics—I need a diet to eliminate these so that I can starve the viruses and parasites. I need to strengthen my immune system and not weaken it. So I'm stopping to eat foods that increase chronic inflammation and that work against my body's natural ability to heal. Added sugar and processed foods are major culprits. Processed foods create many health risks and may increase dementia. As for what foods are good, see my blog about the foods I’m eating.
Most importantly, I’ve also started working with a functional nutritionist who has put me on supplements to detox my body of all the junk that has accumulated over decades. As I said, it’s going to take a while and it’s going to go in phases. But I’m psyched and ready to do this.
Last Thoughts
I think of Western doctors like those blind men trying to understand an elephant. Each man touched a different part of the elephant and described the elephant based on their limited experience. My cardiologist looks at my heart. My ob/gyn looks at my fibroids. My chiropractor looks at my back. But I keep wondering, perhaps all these problems are caused by an underlying problem, some root like all the toxins, viruses, and parasites in my body. It’s not that the Western doctors are wrong, perhaps they just aren’t looking at the whole system.
There are more and more functional doctors looking for the roots of physical ailments. Even the National Institutes for Health have a center for Complementary and Integrative Health embracing alternative solutions. A friend who just had brain surgery was guided by his doctors to prepare with mindful meditation and affirmations before, during, and after his surgery. It sped up his recovery significantly.
It's a process. Use food as medicine. Use the Western diagnosis as a symptom so you can focus on the root cause of the problem. And work on all levels, not just the physical.
Resources
Natural Healing Pathways - a center for total wellness serving individuals seeking safe, natural solutions for their health problems.
Institute for Functional Medicine - Functional medicine determines how and why illness occurs and restores health by addressing the root causes of disease for each individual.
The Hell I Can’t by Terry McBride – it didn’t matter to Terry that the doctors said it was impossible to heal. He did it. Don Fiore for seniors – Qi Gong exercises to optimize energy within the body, mind, and spirit, with the goal of improving and maintaining health and well-being
Reiki - improve the flow and balance of your energy to support healing
MY BLOG POSTS ON HEALTH
Discovering My Choices - why I want to get to the root of the problem
All Because of a Dog - my journey with an acute problem and what I changed